There is a wide variety of commercially available CALL software. The following resources should help you find applications appropriate to your classroom needs and also provide you with sources for quality shareware and freeware.

Sources for CALL Software

• TESOL CALL-IS Website maintained by Leslie Opp-Beckman is the best place to start when looking for CALL resources, including CALL software at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~call/

  Links at the site include:

  • ESOL Internet Resources
  • CALL-IS Software Database
  • CALL-IS Software Fair
  • Tech-Tips Monthly Column
  • CALL Presentation Handouts Online
  • Register Your Presentation
  • TESOL CALL-IS Events

  A Web Resource for CALL Lab Managers and for Teachers and Learners of Languages Online by Vance Stevens is a varied resource of use to both CALL practitioners and lab managers (or those planning to set up CALL labs). It includes the following main sections:

  • Getting Information
  • Setting up
  • Training
  • ESL Activities and CALL Applications
  • Using the Web
  • Virtual Spaces for Web-based Encounters
  • Other Web-based Issues

  If you visit Stevens' site, you may be particularly interested in starting at his Literature on CALL and Language Learning Online page. From there, you will find links to Conference Websites, Online Journals for ESL and Language Learning, and as Vance calls it, his "imperfect bibliography of print media on technology in education," which itself contains links to very extensive bibliographies, such as Michael Barlow's CALL Bibliography, containing 1300 entries.

Evaluating CALL Software

Want to read books or articles on the important topic of evaluating CALL software? One book suggested by ESL professionals is Squires, D., & McDougall, A. (1994). Choosing and using educational software: A teacher's guide. London: Falmer's Press. The book discusses what the authors call a "perspectives interaction paradigm" in which the interactive roles of the teacher, student, and developer are examined and used as a basis both for software evaluation and selection.

A Software Evaluation Guide, based on work by Philip Hubbard of Stanford Univ., can be found at Rice University. This checklist covers Methodology, Approach to Language Instruction, Software Design, and Software Procedures at http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~ling417/guide.html

Deborah Healey's March Technology Tip - Selecting Software - Feeling overwhelmed? Don't know where to start in choosing software? This issue is devoted to software selection. It includes links to Deborah Healey and Norm Johnson's article, "A place to start in selecting software" which discusses needs assessment and specific software recommendations (categorized by skill, user, setting, teacher role and cost).

Jim Duber's CALL @ Chorus is a rich resource which offers detailed reviews of software and books targeted towards language students and instructors. It also features demonstrations of the latest in Cutting Edge CALL Demos, and a carefully selected index of CALL Links to interesting and relevant sites on the web at http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/chorus/call/index.html

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Created by: krauss@lclark.edu
Updated: 3/3/2002